Tuesday, 27 January 2015

This World Bites - Excerpt

Today ... today this blog is for none other than my dear CP, Loni Townsend and an excerpt of her novella, This World Bites, which definitely falls into my 5/5 category.

No ado ... let's get this excerpt started!

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A crimson aura flared about her, and
an icy chill radiated from her insubstantial location. A small puff of steam
rose from my breath. “How unfortunate. Now, if you’ll excuse us…” I tried to
step around her.

She blocked my path and flailed a
hand in her counterpart’s direction. “Look at what she’s done to my hair. I
used to visit the salon every other week, and she hasn’t stopped by even once
since I left. And fashion sense? None. Absolutely zilch. I was a trendsetter.
People looked to me for advice. Me! Do you think anyone has gone to her? No one—not
even once. I was the fashion goddess and the first thing she did when I left
was eat a priceless snakeskin purse. I had to wait in line for hours to buy
that and she ate it! I had to wait weeks to get it back and by then, I didn’t
want it.”

Fues prodded the silent woman with
the butt of his spear and affected no response beyond a wheezing puff of putrid
air. He shook his head and rumbled out a disappointed sigh. “No good. Meat
spoiled. You no want to eat her.”

“Thanks,” I responded dryly. “I’ll be
sure to send her back to the kitchen with a complaint.” If Fues consider her
inedible, she probably wasn’t human. Clearly the other woman wasn’t either. And
if they weren’t human, what were they?

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It’s her first day on a new world and Cera’s already found trouble. Michael, her guardian, has been bitten by a zombie and will soon join the undead ranks.

Everyone tells her there’s no cure, but Cera isn’t one to be deterred. She’s willing to face off with zombie hordes, demon slavers, and black market informants if it means she’ll find a cure for Michael. But she’s not the only one hunting for something.

By day, she writes code. By predawn darkness, she writes fantasies. All other times, she writes in her head.

People call her peculiar with a twisted sense of fashion, but don't let those understatements fool you. Her behavior is perfectly normal for a squirrel disguised as a human. That's part of being a ninja—blending in.

She makes her home in Idaho with her sadistically clever—yet often thwarted—husband, two frighteningly brilliant children, and three sneaky little shibas.